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CA · Canada · –

Region 3, Unorganized fire, 4 July 2016 Region 3, Unorganized

Out · last detection 25 Aug 2016, 19:50 UTC

The fire started on 4 July 2016 in Region 3, Unorganized, Canada, and satellites saw it burning for 53 days. Canada’s CWFIS (Natural Resources Canada) mapped an official burnt perimeter of 24,553 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across a single census subdivision.

It is the 53th largest in Northwest Territories since 2016 (of 358 with a page). Number 5 in Canada in 2016, of 88.

Burnt area
24,553ha
official perimeter (CWFIS)
Duration
53days
4 Jul 2016 – 25 Aug 2016
Census subdivisions hit
1
municipalities
Started on
4 Jul
2016
Heat detections
2,694
in a single hotspot: 616 MW
Danger at start
27
High · FWI index
Average daily power
850MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 4 Jul25 Aug
25 Aug 2016

How it evolved, day by day

6 Jul 2016 · 4 MW · 1 7 Jul 2016 · 5 MW · 1 8 Jul 2016 · 1 MW · 1 12 Jul 2016 · 17 MW · 3 13 Jul 2016 · 77 MW · 12 14 Jul 2016 · 959 MW · 51 15 Jul 2016 · 3,496 MW · 127 16 Jul 2016 · 962 MW · 67 17 Jul 2016 · 262 MW · 133 22 Jul 2016 · 2 MW · 1 23 Jul 2016 · 105 MW · 44 24 Jul 2016 · 66 MW · 25 27 Jul 2016 · 645 MW · 41 28 Jul 2016 · 11,295 MW · 290 29 Jul 2016 · 645 MW · 205 30 Jul 2016 · 257 MW · 38 31 Jul 2016 · 1,032 MW · 145 1 Aug 2016 · 184 MW · 109 2 Aug 2016 · 291 MW · 33 3 Aug 2016 · 643 MW · 144 4 Aug 2016 · 856 MW · 191 5 Aug 2016 · 957 MW · 172 8 Aug 2016 · 168 MW · 13 9 Aug 2016 · 2,657 MW · 117 10 Aug 2016 · 235 MW · 116 15 Aug 2016 · 2 MW · 1 16 Aug 2016 · 10 MW · 6 17 Aug 2016 · 7 MW · 8 18 Aug 2016 · 263 MW · 25 19 Aug 2016 · 144 MW · 57 21 Aug 2016 · 8 MW · 4 22 Aug 2016 · 273 MW · 30 23 Aug 2016 · 1,154 MW · 150 24 Aug 2016 · 1,913 MW · 277 25 Aug 2016 · 143 MW · 56
6 Jul 16 Jul 28 Jul 5 Aug 18 Aug

Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.

The weather it burned in

31°high
52km/h · peak gust
18%lowest humidity

It had gone one day without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 16% of the area of London (246 km² against 1,583 km²).

London boundary: geoBoundaries · Office for National Statistics (Open Government Licence v3.0).

This compares size, not location: both shapes are at the same scale, north up, centred on each other.

What happened to each census subdivision

  1. Region 3, Unorganized where it started
    24,196 ha reached on 6 Jul
    0.7 %

Burnt area inside each census subdivision, from crossing the official perimeter with administrative boundaries. The distance runs from the point marking the centre of each area to the nearest fire: staying a kilometre away does not mean it reached the houses.

People and buildings inside the perimeter

GHSL 2015
Built-up area< 0.1 ha
Residents< 20

Inside the perimeter there was no noticeable built-up land and almost nobody lived there (GHSL 2015, satellite-based estimate).

This is an estimate on 100 m cells, made from satellite imagery and census data: it does not mean that homes burned or that anyone was harmed. The perimeter also contains land that never burned.

Source: Global Human Settlement Layer (GHS-BUILT-S and GHS-POP R2023A), European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC), © European Union, CC BY 4.0. Sum inside the perimeter computed by WorldFires. human-settlement.emergency.copernicus.eu

The weather day by day

ECMWF ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, the standard reference for past weather, and the Canadian Fire Weather Index (the same system Copernicus uses), computed by WorldFires from that data. Days after the fire run until the first rain.

Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Climate Change Service (ERA5)

Day High Min. humidity Peak gust Rain Danger (FWI)
4 Jul 30.7 °C 18 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
5 Jul 28.1 °C 27 % 34 km/h 0.3 mm High 32
6 Jul 24.4 °C 25 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
7 Jul 22.3 °C 27 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
8 Jul 20.8 °C 34 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
9 Jul 19.7 °C 45 % 31 km/h 2.9 mm Very low 5
10 Jul 22.3 °C 41 % 31 km/h 1.2 mm Low 7
11 Jul 24.3 °C 31 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
12 Jul 25.9 °C 31 % 38 km/h 0.2 mm High 24
13 Jul 27.4 °C 22 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
14 Jul 29.4 °C 25 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
15 Jul 28.7 °C 24 % 51 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
16 Jul 24.7 °C 37 % 52 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
17 Jul 26.2 °C 35 % 41 km/h 0.9 mm Moderate 20
18 Jul 21.7 °C 42 % 37 km/h 1.4 mm Moderate 12
19 Jul 17.8 °C 49 % 45 km/h 6.3 mm Very low 4
20 Jul 13.3 °C 59 % 40 km/h 4.9 mm Very low 1
21 Jul 11.7 °C 42 % 48 km/h 0.7 mm Low 5
22 Jul 17.7 °C 37 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Low 10
23 Jul 15.8 °C 40 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Low 11
24 Jul 16.4 °C 33 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 14
25 Jul 16.8 °C 44 % 24 km/h 0.7 mm Moderate 11
26 Jul 18.2 °C 56 % 42 km/h 2.3 mm Very low 5
27 Jul 20.5 °C 32 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Low 9
28 Jul 25.5 °C 37 % 35 km/h 0.1 mm Moderate 17
29 Jul 25.6 °C 44 % 30 km/h 6.6 mm Very low 3
30 Jul 22.3 °C 61 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 5
31 Jul 23.9 °C 39 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 12
1 Aug 22.7 °C 47 % 42 km/h 0.4 mm Moderate 15
2 Aug 22.2 °C 34 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 16
3 Aug 24.6 °C 33 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 16
4 Aug 26.0 °C 36 % 21 km/h 1.1 mm Moderate 12
5 Aug 17.2 °C 66 % 36 km/h 2.7 mm Very low 4
6 Aug 16.4 °C 39 % 30 km/h 0.1 mm Low 6
7 Aug 17.6 °C 39 % 24 km/h 0.4 mm Low 10
8 Aug 20.8 °C 30 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 17
9 Aug 21.5 °C 32 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
10 Aug 19.6 °C 54 % 43 km/h 8.9 mm Very low 1
11 Aug 18.1 °C 74 % 40 km/h 8.6 mm Very low 0
12 Aug 16.1 °C 71 % 21 km/h 0.2 mm Very low 0
13 Aug 20.5 °C 51 % 17 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 1
14 Aug 24.0 °C 43 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Low 7
15 Aug 26.5 °C 38 % 30 km/h 0.3 mm Moderate 12
16 Aug 24.0 °C 38 % 37 km/h 0.1 mm Moderate 13
17 Aug 18.3 °C 60 % 52 km/h 0.8 mm Low 9
18 Aug 21.0 °C 43 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Low 10
19 Aug 22.8 °C 45 % 29 km/h 1.5 mm Low 6
20 Aug 22.4 °C 45 % 24 km/h 1.9 mm Very low 3
21 Aug 22.2 °C 44 % 26 km/h 0.3 mm Low 8
22 Aug 24.2 °C 29 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 16
23 Aug 26.1 °C 31 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
24 Aug 20.4 °C 45 % 45 km/h 0.1 mm Moderate 19
25 Aug 19.6 °C 64 % 41 km/h 4.7 mm Very low 1
26 Aug after 16.7 °C 58 % 36 km/h 0.4 mm Very low 4
27 Aug after 11.3 °C 53 % 42 km/h 0.3 mm Low 7
28 Aug after 11.9 °C 58 % 21 km/h 0.6 mm Very low 4
29 Aug after 12.4 °C 59 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Low 6
30 Aug after 14.1 °C 49 % 18 km/h 0.0 mm Low 7
31 Aug after 13.8 °C 48 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm Low 8
1 Sept after 14.5 °C 53 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 12
2 Sept after 12.5 °C 57 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 11
3 Sept after 13.3 °C 34 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 17
4 Sept after 9.9 °C 57 % 42 km/h 0.5 mm Moderate 13

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 27.2, a minimum humidity of 18% and 1 day without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2017: 6.

FWI at the start 27.2
Minimum humidity 18 %
Days without rain 1
this fire chosen twins rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

Region 3, Unorganized fire, June 2022
18,709 ha 66 days FWI 21.4 Min. humidity 19 % 134 km away, in 2022

First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 3.3 mm on 30 Aug.

What happened to them

Fires in the area that started in similar weather: 6. With fewer than 15 we give no figures: they would be more noise than signal.

This is a bank of analogues: it shows what usually happens, not what will happen. With fewer than 15 twins we give no figures. How we calculate it

How it ended

—first rain
—no rain in ten days
52km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 25 Aug, and not even 1 mm fell in the following ten days: it went out without rain.

Weather on this page: Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Climate Change Service (ERA5)

How a twin is chosen

  • Same area: fires that have already ended, less than 250 km from this one, since 2017.
  • Same start: we compare the FWI on the first day, the minimum humidity that day and the run of days without rain before it. The slider sets how much they may differ.
  • Only pages with final weather data (ERA5 reanalysis) calculated in the same way as this fire’s; agricultural and grass burns and pages with data under review are left out.
  • Fires burning at the same time as this one (a week before or after) are left out: they share the same spell of weather and do not count as a precedent.
  • They are sorted by similarity, and the outlines of the first five are drawn.

How we calculate it

Before and after, from space

Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.

Before · 27 Jun 2016
After · 1 Sept 2016

If the day is cloudy, change the date: each satellite passes once a day. In false colour the burnt ground looks brown or red.

Detections table · 2,694Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
⬇ Download CSV Times in UTC. Each detection is a 375 m pixel: a large fire yields hundreds per pass.
Date and timeSatelliteFRP (MW)LatLon

Other fires nearby

All fires in Canada

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Region 3, Unorganized fire last?
It burned between 4 July 2016 and 25 August 2016: 53 days, according to the dates recorded by Canada’s CWFIS and the heat detections seen by satellite.
How much area did it burn?
The official perimeter mapped by Canada’s CWFIS (Natural Resources Canada) is 24,553 hectares (245.5 km²). Other tallies, such as those of provincial agencies, may give slightly different figures.
Which census subdivisions burned?
The fire only entered Region 3, Unorganized (24,196 ha, 0.7 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 30.7 °C, humidity dropped to 18 % and gusts hit 52 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 39, class Very high.
Where does this data come from?
From the official burnt perimeter of Canada’s CWFIS (NBAC, Natural Resources Canada) or, for the current season and until NBAC publishes it, the one rebuilt by GWIS (Copernicus); from NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots; and from the administrative boundaries of Canada. It is not an official report.

Where to verify it

A satellite detection is not an official report. Final figures and the fire’s status are published by each country’s emergency service.

Emergency number: 911 · Emergency number and official warnings

Satellite cross-check

History of this page Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.

Does something look wrong on this page?

This page is built from satellite data and official records, and it sometimes gets things wrong: the wrong dates, the wrong town, two fires merged into one, or something that was not a wildfire at all. If you know this fire first-hand (you live nearby, saw it, fought it or reported on it), tell us what really happened and we will check it.

Report an error
What do you think is wrong?

We will only use your email to reply about this report. Privacy. This is not an emergency service: if there is a fire now, call 911.

How we know this
  • Perimeter: NBAC (Natural Resources Canada), official.
  • Dates from the perimeter: the VIIRS detections inside it did not change them. 2,694 Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
  • We have not matched this page with any official record.
  • Weather: Copernicus ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, in cells of about 25 km.
  • Built-up area and population come from the JRC Global Human Settlement Layer (epoch 2015, 100 m cells), summed inside the perimeter: an estimate of what was there, not a damage count.

How we build fire pages: methodology

Where this data comes from

The perimeter is official: it comes from the National Burned Area Composite (NBAC) of the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System (CWFIS), Natural Resources Canada, which maps it on satellite imagery and publishes it under the Open Government Licence – Canada. Until NBAC publishes the current season, this year’s fires carry the perimeter rebuilt from heat detections by GWIS (Copernicus, CC BY 4.0), which is approximate. Heat detections come from the VIIRS sensors aboard Suomi-NPP and NOAA-20, distributed by NASA FIRMS at 375 m resolution. Census subdivision boundaries come from geoBoundaries ADM3 (Open Data Commons Open Database License 1.0). The area per census subdivision is computed by WorldFires by crossing the perimeter with those boundaries, so it may differ slightly from official figures.